When a Consulting Client Goes Silent

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Hi there!

A friend of mine was talking about the dating scene recently. He mentioned how commonplace “ghosting” has become.

“Ghosting” is when someone suddenly stops responding to you. They turn into a “ghost” and you never hear from them again.

He then followed up with something along the lines of: “You’re so lucky to be married and not have to deal with ghosting anymore.”

My first thought: ghosting is extremely common in the consulting world! I have to deal with it constantly!

So with that in mind, let’s talk about what to do when a consulting client, prospective or actual, “ghosts” and you don’t hear from them in a while.

What does it look like when someone “ghosts” or goes silent in a consulting context?

In the consulting context, you stop receiving responses to your emails.

The obvious disclaimer here is OOO (out of office) auto-replies. If you aren’t getting responses, but there is an OOO, then you specifically aren’t being ignored.

But, if you aren’t getting responses and there is no OOO, then they’ve gone silent on you.

How do you handle it when a prospective clients goes silent?

This is the harder one to manage.

It’s in your best interest to follow up repeatedly to “get the sale.” But, do it too often and you are at-risk of pissing off the prospective client and losing the sale.

In practice, most clients solely get too much email. I had one CEO tell me he receives more than a 1,000 emails by noon every day. (Granted, quite a few were from the general public emailing him since his email was publicly accessible.)

Either way, they likely just your email in their inbox.

Here’s my rules of thumb:

• If a client has gone silent, then follow up with them no more than every 7 days

• If there is an industry-specific reason they are quiet, then wait seven days until after that reason is gone

As an example of the industry-specific reason: the automaker industry is exceptionally business for the last few days of the month. They call it “the close.”

If your email on the 28th of the month didn’t get returned by the auto client, it’s because of the close. Wait until the 1st of the new month, then add 7 more days. Follow up on the 8th.

How do you handle it when a current client goes silent?

This is significantly easier to manage. THe client is already paying you for your time; if they don’t respond, then they simply are running up their own bill.

That being said, you don’t want this to go on forever or you’ll be in the unique situation of a client paying you while you aren’t working!

Here’s my rule of thumb:

• If the client hasn’t responded in 3 business days, follow up

• If they don’t respond within 2 days of that, then follow up with a more senior person on the client side.

• Make sure to have the senior person reach out be “innocent” where you aren’t throwing

In practice, a client going silent is most likely because they were:

• Traveling

• Are unhappy with the fact a consulting project is happening

In the former, a follow up is fine. In the latter, you’ll need executive cover!

How can I help?

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